Lords of the Fallen studio embraces the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include 'any social or political agendas' in its games

Lords of the Fallen studio CI Video games says it won’t combine “any social or political agendas” into its video games as a result of doing so, it claims, incurs a “excessive danger” of economic failure.

The assertion was made throughout a current traders chat (through Strefa Inwestorów), throughout which CI Video games was requested about its “stance on DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] in gaming.” In response, world advertising and marketing director Ryan Hill stated the studio priotizies “glorious person expertise with compelling thematics and characters created particularly for core and adjoining audiences,” after which rolled into what I might name a fairly ill-informed tackle the present state of the sport trade.

“Whereas some videogames have lately taken the chance to embed social or political agendas inside their experiences, it’s clear that many gamers don’t admire this, and in consequence, we’ve seen numerous excessive profile releases underperforming commercially over the last yr alone,” Hill stated. “Our video games will all the time be developed to maximise participant enjoyment and industrial success, and as such, we won’t be integrating any social or political businesses into these experiences going ahead having noticed the excessive danger this could current.”

Hill did not clarify how precisely he or CI Video games defines DEI, which has grow to be shorthand slang for “issues I do not like” amongst some elements of videogame fandom, nor did he provide any examples of video games that failed because of their “social or political agendas.” Harmony and Dustborn are generally held up as examples of such, however the actuality is that they are simply two of actually 1000’s of video games—19,000 new video games on Steam alone in 2024—that failed to search out an viewers over the previous yr. And within the case of Harmony particularly, it arguably simply wasn’t a fantastic recreation—we gave it a forty five% in our evaluate, and never as a result of we did not suppose the solid was white sufficient

He did, sadly, lend credence to the ugly and patently false assertion that DEI is ruining gaming by—properly, that is not likely clear both. However that just about does not matter: As a hot-button buzzword amongst offended, reactionary avid gamers, the DEI boogeyman does not want a definition, it simply must fire up lizard mind feelings on the way in which to producing views.

Hill’s feedback stand in sharp distinction to these expressed by one other Polish studio, Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt: On its variety and inclusion web page, which does actually outline the studio’s method to DEI intimately, CEO Adam Kiciński says “a variety of views unlocks creativity and will increase innovation.”

CI Video games declined to touch upon Hill’s assertion.